Egypt looks for economic ties in the Middle East

Significance

In September, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi visited Qatar for the first since 2014. Egypt is trying to improve relations with Qatar and expand its regional influence more widely in an effort to attract investment. For example, Iraq and Jordan are seeing more engagement.

Impacts

• Cairo will continue to rely on Gulf allies to shore up its economy.
• Gulf states will look for stakes in profitable Egyptian state-owned enterprises in exchange.
• The large role of the military in the domestic economy will hamper growth.